The Gujarat High Court on Monday commuted the death sentence of 11 convicts in the 2002 Godhra train carnage case to life imprisonment. A division bench of Justices Anant S Dave and G R Udhwani of the high court pronounced the judgement on appeals filed by the convicts as well as the prosecuting agency.

The High Court also upheld the life sentence awarded by the special SIT court to 20 others in the case. The special SIT court had on March 1, 2011 convicted 31 persons. The trial court sentenced 11 persons to death and 20 others to life imprisonment, while acquitting 63.

The high court on Monday also ordered the State government and the railways to pay a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the kin of those killed in the train burning incident.

As per this order, all 31 convicts will now serve out their lives in prison for attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy in setting ablaze a coach of the Sabarmati Express in 2002. As many as 59 passengers including many ‘kar sevaks’ returning from Ayodhya were killed in a coach of Sabarmati Express by a violent mob near Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.